Women's Activism In The 1970s Essay

Growing feminist activism in the 1970s increased social concerns of the role of women in society. Upward growing numbers of women working jobs outside of the traditional house role fostered social anxiety that women would abandon their conventional roles such as being wives and mothers for these new lifestyles and occupations originally labelled for the men of the house, not the women. Women began to present themselves differently, getting rid of the short skirts, and now opting for pantsuits. It was such a popular movement that fashion magazines, such as Vogue, created editorials showcasing the androgynous trend that women wore during the feminist movement during the 70s (see Figure 1). These changes in self- presentation fueled concerns …show more content…
Women’s liberationists and feminists borrowed from popular cultural styles that challenged gender norms. These feminists and women’s activists didn’t reject makeup, dresses and high heels due to them being objectifying of the female lifestyle; rather they rejected normative self- presentations of womanhood. This led to dress and appearance becoming an explicit part of political goals and continued to challenge conceptions of gender and traditional femininity (Hillman, p. 5). My informant spoke on how she saw the work attire change firsthand, …show more content…
We went from being cared for and living a slower paced, less stressed daily life, to taking on jobs outside the home. Either because we wanted more money for our families or because we were unsatisfied with managing a household and felt the need to be out in the work world. It was only after being in the ‘dog eat dog’ world that women discovered they were once again being taken advantage of. Even today, men receive a higher pay for doing the same job their female peers do. A woman can be creative anywhere she is. She doesn’t have to be in an office, she just needs to recognize how to find her path” V. Templeton (personal communication, October 16,